Espritpatch

Bobbi and Heidi are hosting another Friday Night Sew-In on 19 February 2010. If you want to join the fun, go and add your name to the list at February Friday Night Sew In . There are already nearly 100 of us signed up for it! Celine

This week I bought a second pack of Seville orange to make more marmalade. So today I started again squeezing the oranges and cutting the skins etc. Because I am not used to work in imperial measures, I made a mistake when measuring the pints of water and added to much. That meant that I didn't have enough sugar for the quantity of liquid I had but managed to find almost what I needed and I ended up with about 15 pots this time. We'll surely have enough for a little while. Today I also finished another 4 pot covers (that was before I knew I'd have another 15 pots...) and took a picture in daylight. So much nicer colors. From here to there Tonight I'll work on my snowmen again I think. See you soon. Celine

I did make some (little) progress yesterday evening and snowman now has a pair of trousers. I have received this week my order from the equilter sales and one of the fabric in the package is perfect for this project. I have cut his jumper out of it. I might sew it tonight or tomorrow as we usually try to play a board game with hubby on Saturday night when the kids are finally in bed! Here is what snowman looks like with his trousers on. This morning there was a dusting of snow when we got up but it soon melted with the sun. A very nice day which has been filled with various activities. Big boy suggested we baked cake so we made some lovely cupcakes today. He loves baking and cupcakes are a great thing as they can be decorated to your heart's content. They were also yummy. He explained tonight that he was so much better than Mummy at baking and asked Daddy whether he was telling Mummy what to do in terms of baking before he was born and able to take over. He will soon be 4! Just t...

The kids are in bed, hubby has gone to the gym, and I am in my pyjamas! Won't be spending the evening browsing on the Internet as the computer is verrrry sloooow tonight. Don't know what's wrong with it. Anyway that gives me all the encouragement I need to have my own private Friday Night Sew-In. I have decided on the fabrics I'll use to dress my snow people. Now I can get on with it and hopefully post pictures before the end of the week-end. Wish me luck! Other pictures I am hoping to post before the end of the week are some of baby daughter's new curtains I started last week-end. I only have half of the seam on the second curtain to finish now so it shouldn't be long. I don't want to cheat and post a picture before it is completely finished though. I have also received lovely blocks from the Winter Holiday swap from the Dear Jane list. I'll post pictures of those soon but it is definitely too slow for pictures tonight. Off to the sewing machine. then! ...

I haven't been able to participate in the block lotto towards the end of last year but I have decided to try to join in again. Some recent pictures of quilts made by previous winners can only encourage you to try your luck really. Anyway, I thought I'll make more than one block but I couldn't find that much WOW in my stash so I made one "liberated Tic Tac Toe". There are over 200 blocks in the lotto this month so I suppose there will be a few winners. Celine

The curtains are not finished yet although I am still hoping they will be tonight before my working week starts again. I got delayed because yesterday Mum and I spent a fair amount of time cutting tiny little bits of orange skins to make our marmalade. The marmalade is done and it is very tasty, we tried this morning at breakfast before Mum left to go back home. Last year we made a batch as well and managed to forget about it while it was boiling so it got burnt and is disgusting. So annoying after spending hours preparing... Anyway, this has given me an idea for Jenny of Elefantz' challenge of making something out of a tea towel. I'll see if I have time before the end of the week to do it and post a picture. See you soon with hopefully pictures of my finished curtains. Celine

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in more than a week now... The week has been very busy but I can't say I have achieved much sewing-wise. After finishing my naked snowmen (I made a second one last Saturday) I decided to go and hunt for some fabrics for their clothes. So I spent the rest of the week-end, sorting out my fabric. I have decided on a new storage system for my fabrics a while back and not all has been transferred yet unfortunately ... Too much to do, too little time... Anyway, I did progress well last week-end on the tidy up front. Still lots to do though. This week-end, my Mum is over to stay with us and yesterday we went on a shopping trip to find some curtain fabric. And I am so glad that I have finally found some for baby girl's room. She has been in her room since September and still have some "grown-up" curtains. I have found a lovely fabric called "Bear Bedtime" which will go well with her paper border and will try to make ...

I haven't done a lot during my Friday Night Sew-In but at least I have managed to sit down and sew a little bit. I have finished one snowman, just need to dress him now. When I get there, I will be able to add it to my list for my January OPAM! I have started cutting and sewing a snowwoman this afternoon. Hopefully I will make more progress on those two this week-end! See you soon for more Celine

OK, the kids are in bed and asleep, I have my pyjamas on, I just had a chocolate so now I am ready to go. Tonight is Friday Night Sew-In organised by Heidi . I wasn't sure which project to choose but I decided that I would try this pattern that I bought at Ally Pally in October hoping that I'll make a snowman/woman for Big Boy and Baby Daughter before Christmas. It hasn't quite worked out that way in terms of timing but then we've had snow for most of the month of January so it's still time for snowmen! OK now if I want to progress, I better get started now. See you soon for an update of how far I went. Have fun sewing. Celine

First there was the Maisy book for baby daughter for Christmas. I think she would have preferred a paper one that she could have eaten (she LOVES eating paper...). I have another panel left to make another book for a friend's baby. I think I might make it as a concertina book this time. Front cover: Inside: Back cover: Then I did the lovely "Santa Stop Here" hexies panel that Vicki designed for the Among the Gum Tree blog. I started stitching it a few days before Christmas when we could finally sit down in our flat in the Alps and not have to worry about travelling etc but I didn't manage to finish stitching on time for Christmas. Big boy got worried and said to me: " If you don't finish it in time for Christmas, will Santa still stop?" Santa did indeed stop by, he came down the mountains on his skis and gave us lots of chocolates before and during the lovely fireworks display. After a Christmas concert and some mulled wine, he came knocking at our do...

Do you remember that picture? Finally, I have remembered to take pictures of my "Candy Bag". I really love it and love the fabrics. What do you think? Celine

I have joined Heidi' s Friday Night Sew-In challenge that she is organising on Friday 15 January. Visit her blog if you want to join in the fun! I will let you know how I get on! Celine

After 2 weeks of travelling all over France, we are back at home from the holidays. We tried to leave the UK on 18 December but got stuck on the car park from the Channel Tunnel. 5 Eurostar had broken down in the tunnel so there was no traffic going through until the path was clear. That meant for us that we had to wait and wait and wait... with little information. So much fun to spend hours in your car with 2 children under 4 when it is -1C outside. We stayed at the tunnel for about 15 hours (most of that time stuck in our car on a parking) before we could eventually go through on Saturday morning. But how lucky were we to be given 4 bottles of water in 15 hours when it is freezing outside... How about tea/coffee/soup/food, etc? Never mind, maybe next time Mr and Mrs Eurotunnel .... Anyway after such an ordeal, we went to my Mum and then to my parents-in-law en route to the Alps for a week in the snow! We spent a very good week in Flaine with a beautiful white scenery. Not much skii...